Week 3 was an interesting week within the conference. There were upsets of top 25 teams and overtime victories. This week had many headlines and notable stories including Washington State getting a win (when something this rare happens, it deserves a headline), Oregon snapping Utah's 16 game win streak, Jahvid Best's 5 touchdowns, and Washington's upset of the third ranked USC Trojans.

            Cal @ Minnesota: The Bears continue to impress everyone as they ran their way to a 35-21 win at Minnesota. The Bears have now shown that they are the best team in the conference thanks to Jahvid Best. Kevin Riley passed for 252 yards on Saturday. He didn't have a big game, but he doesn't have to. Riley understands that all he needs to do is manage the game so that Cal can hand the ball off to Best and ride him to victory. With 5 rushing touchdowns and his 7^th consecutive game with 100 plus rushing yards, Best has legitimized himself as a true Heisman candidate.

            USC @ Washington: From 2004 to 2008 the Washington Huskies went 12-47. In 2009 Steve Sarkisian became head coach and has his team at 2-1 and ranked number 24 in the country. With a late field goal, Washington beat USC 16-13.  While this game was a major upset and had a lot of shock value on the surface, we should be fair to USC and acknowledge that they were playing the best quarterback in the conference in Jake Locker. They were also playing a Huskies team that was coached by former USC coaches who knew the system, had nothing to lose, and have shown great improvement each week this season. This is the second straight year that USC has lost in the week following a big victory over Ohio State. USC didn't have their best team on the field as they were missing their starting quarterback, free safety, cornerback, defensive end, wide receiver, and nickelback.

            Utah @ Oregon: The Utes came to Autzen stadium with a 16 game win streak and left with a loss. The Oregon offense is finally starting to get on track and become the team that everyone expected.     They still have problems as the defense is suspect at best and Jeremiah Masoli is struggling as he completed just 4 passes for 95 yards and an interception. The positive aspect is that freshman running back LaMichael James seems to be the replacement for Legarrette Blount. James rushed for 156 yards in the 31-24 victory. As potent as the Oregon rushing attack may be, they will need Masoli to pass the ball and play exceptional if they have any chance of beating Cal next week in their Pac-10 opener.

            Arizona @ Iowa: As expected Iowa defeated the visiting Wildcats. Freshman running back Adam Robinson rushed for 101 yards and 2 touchdowns in the 27-17 victory. Arizona never got anything going on offense; they used 3 quarterbacks and only managed 105 yards through the air. The Wildcats will look to rebound next week as they travel to Corvallis to take on the Beavers, who are also coming off of a loss.

            Cincinnati @ Oregon State: The Beavers' 26 game home win streak in non-conference games came to an end Saturday. The Bearcats were able to keep Jacquizz Rodgers under 100 yards. Oregon State was unable to run the ball, meaning they couldn't control the clock and had to give the ball to the Bearcat offense where quarterback Tony Pike threw for 331 yards and 2 touchdowns.

            San Jose State @ Stanford: Chris Owusu ran back the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown and the Cardinal never looked back. Toby Gerhart rushed for 113 yards and 2 touchdowns as Stanford routed the Spartans 42-17 in its home-opener. Stanford has 3 defensive touchdowns, a special teams' touchdown, and did not punt until early in the third quarter. This all sounds good, but they were playing San Jose State. Stanford will get a test next week when they host Washington.

            Louisiana-Monroe @ Arizona State: ASU had a 14-0 lead at the end of 1 and a 24-7 lead at the half. The defense was impressive for the second straight week as they forced the Warhawks into 3 turnovers. Sullivan threw for 220 yards as ASU looked good on offense. They looked better then last week, but will still need to improve if they want to go into Georgia and beat the Bulldogs next week.

            Southern Methodist @ Washington State: The Cougars came from behind, forced a turnover in overtime, and won the game. Yes, believe it or not this actually happened. 2-0 Southern Methodist lost 30-27 as Washington State got its first (and possibly only) win of the season. The 39 yard field goal in overtime clinched the win, and also marked the first time that Washington State had the lead all season.

            Kansas State @ UCLA: Starting quarterback Kevin Prince is expected to be out 3 more weeks with a broken jaw, but in the meantime Bruin fans should have liked what they saw from Kevin Craft. The senior backup threw for 186 yards and a touchdown. Freshman running back Johnathan Franklin rushed for 119 yards as UCLA defeated Kansas State 23-9. UCLA has a bye week before going to Stanford on October 3^rd.

Week 3 does not have the hype that week 2 may have had, but there are still a lot of intriguing games. There are games that are trap games as some times play their last non-conference games and others begin to play conference games. The Pac-10 has two ranked teams in action and there are two 25 schools that will be playing in Pac-10 stadiums on Saturday.

Cal @ Minnesota: I usually favor the home team when the visitors are traveling east into a different time zone. However, the Bears have been very impressive in their first two games. They have put up 50+ points in each game and Jahvid Best has been phenomenal. I look for Best to make more highlight reel runs and for Kevin Riley to continue to improve and show that he is a legitimate Pac-10 quarterback.

USC @ Washington: Some see this as a trap game for the Trojans because they just played Ohio State and Washington has been impressive so far this year. Steve Sarkesian will be motivated to upset his former team, but USC is too talented. Whether Matt Barkley plays or not, the Trojans should win this game. Pete Carroll is a great coach and he won't let his team falter this early in the season. The Trojans will be motivated and Carroll will want to stick it to his former defensive coordinator.

Utah @ Oregon: This game promises to be exciting. Oregon finally showed some life on offense this past weekend against Purdue and will look to fully blossom against Utah. The Utes will be trying too legitimize themselves as a true BCS contender by beating a Pac-10 team in a Pac-10 venue. Autzen is one of the toughest places to play in the country, but I think the Utes will take care of business. Oregon's offense is still in preseason form and the defense has significant injuries. T.J Ward is still questionable and without him the Ducks defense was less than spectacular last week against Purdue. It pains me to say it, but Oregon will be unable to pull off the upset.

Arizona @ Iowa: The Hawkeyes have been impressive so far this year. Their running game is better than expected. The Wildcats have been good, but not as good as expected. This game should be entertaining and could go either way. Home field advantage is a huge factor in college football and in a game where the talent is about equal, home field could decide the game. Arizona has a first year starter at quarterback in his first game away from home. I like Iowa to get the win.

Southern Methodist @ Washington State: Anyone watch this Washington State vs. Hawaii game Saturday? Well if you did you know exactly why it's easy for me to pick Southern Methodist. There isn't much to say, Washington State was absolutely horrible. They hardly resembled a football team. This program has fallen on tough times and I'll be picking their opponents quite often this year.

Cincinnati @ Oregon State:  (Upset Pick) The Bearcats come into this game as the 17^th ranked team in the country. However, I'm going with the Beavers. Reyser stadium is a tough place to play, just ask USC. The Beavers defend their home turf and the fans there know how to get behind their team and cause turmoil for the opponents. Jacquizz Rodgers will have to carry the load, but he is definitely ready for the challenge.

San Jose State @ Stanford: The Cardinal get better year after year. San Jose State is the same team that lost by 50 points to USC. Stanford should have no trouble with the Spartans and improve to 2-1 on the year.

Louisiana-Monroe @ ASU: Despite winning by 47 points in the opener, I was not impressed with the Sun Devils. They dropped a lot of passes and had mistakes on offense. The defense was very impressive, but they were only playing Idaho State. This week won't be much more of a challenge. The Sun Devils will improve to 2-0, but will still be a mystery until next week's game at Georgia.

Kansas State @ UCLA: The Bruins showed a lot last week by going into Tennessee and getting the victory. This is a program headed in the right direction. The Bruins have surprised me by how well they are playing this year. I expect them to keep up the good work and improve to 3-0 this week against Kansas State.

The second week of the season was huge for the Pac-10. The conference that is said to lack depth went into an SEC stadium as well as a Big Ten stadium and came home with two victories.  The conference looked good and performed better than I expected them to.

I'll start this week two review with the most intriguing game that happened on Saturday.

USC @ Ohio State: The 106,000 fans were loud and doing everything that they could to will their Buckeyes to victory. The Ohio State defensive line dominated the USC offensive line for 57 minutes. Unfortunately, a football game is 60 minutes. With an injured shoulder, freshman quarterback Matt Barkley led the Trojans on a game winning drive. Barkley admitted that his shoulder was "killing him," but he showed courage and poise and did whatever was necessary to lead his team to victory. USC struggled throughout this game and did not perform the way Trojan teams usually do. They committed penalties, and had a rare special teams mistake that resulted in a safety. However, as all great teams do, the Trojans stepped up to the challenge and dug themselves out of a hole. Great times battle adversity and find ways to win. It wasn't always pretty, but USC found a way to win one of the most important games on its schedule.

The other big nonconference game was the game between UCLA and Tennessee. Both teams were sloppy in this game but the Bruins prevailed. UCLA was horrible on third downs, but were helped out by Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton who threw for a measly 93 yards and 3 interceptions. Tennessee had 4 turnovers in this game and UCLA was able to take advantage. Kai Forbath had 4 field goals, leading the Bruins in scoring and helping them to a 19-15 victory.

Stanford surprised me by starting off fast. I didn't expect them to win this game, but I was pleased by their 17-3 lead at the half. However, the Cardinal was unable to hold onto the lead on the road. Riley Skinner did not have as big of a game as I expected, but he threw for a touchdown and ran for another giving the Demon Deacons the 24-17.

Just as expected, Cal beat Eastern Washington. The Golden Bears scored 50+ points in their first two games for the first time in school history. Jahvid Best continued filling his personal highlight video as he rushed for 144 yards on Saturday. Riley only threw for 150 yards, but he is improving as a quarterback and showing that this could be a special season for the Bears.

After being down 35-6 at halftime it is no surprise that Washington State lost to Hawaii. The Cougars were able to make it somewhat respectable by closing the gap to 38-20.

Congratulations to the Washington Huskies as they finally won a game. This was a complete team effort as the Huskies defeated the Idaho Vandals. The Steve Sarkesian era is looking bright in Washington. I can't help but feel good for Jake Locker who is one of the best quarterbacks in the conference, but stuck on one of the worst teams.

Arizona won as expected. Nic Grigsby's 207 rushing yards helped Arizona beat NAU 34-17. Arizona has won its first two games, but they have not been as dominating as I would have expected. This however, could be because they are running the ball a lot, so there is less time to put up points.

Oregon State defeated UNLV 23-21. This game was closer than expected, but UNLV was at home and played tough. The Beavers dodged a bullet here, but at least they were able to come out with a win. The Beavers hit a field goal with seven seconds remaining to steal the game from the Running Rebels.

Everyone was curious to see how Oregon would comeback after last week's disaster. Well, the defense desperately missed T.J Ward last night as Purdue moved the ball fairly easily. The Ducks offense was inconsistent throughout the night, but it showed glimpses of potential. The Ducks showed that they are close to unleashing the high powered offense that everyone expects, but they are not quite there yet. Most importantly, the Ducks were able to hold off Purdue and get another non-conference win for the Pac-10. Final Score: Oregon 38 Purdue 36.

My Overall picks this season: 16-2

Last week was a good showing for the conference, but it was all overshadowed by the events following the Oregon game. Thankfully, we are back to playing football again and should be able to forget last week's events and focus on the rest of the season. The Pacific-10 Conference has nine non-conference games this weekend and the majority of them are very intriguing. This week's games are:

Stanford at Wake Forest: Despite losing their opener; I'm still picking Wake Forest to win this game. Riley Skinner threw three interceptions in the opener against Baylor. This is uncharacteristic and he should bounce back against the Cardinal. Stanford has been and continues to be a program on the rise, but it's hard to see them winning on the road at 9 a.m local time.

Idaho at Washington: I didn't predict them to do well this season, but the Steve Sarkesian era got off to an impressive start last Saturday as they only lost to LSU by 11. This is the week that the Huskies get their first win in over a year as Idaho visits the apple state. Jake Locker is a great quarterback that has been stuck on a bad team. Hopefully he plays big and enjoys this week because who knows when the Huskies will have another shot at victory.

UCLA at Tennessee: After beating Western Kentucky 63-7, Tennessee looks to continue its success against the visiting Bruins of UCLA. This game will be close and is very intriguing, but I trust Tennessee at home more than I do UCLA on the road. This is a big game for the Pac-10 as they could gain some respect by beating an SEC school; however the sea of orange will be too much for the Bruins.

Eastern Washington at 10 Cal: This game will not even be close. The Golden Bears dominated Maryland last week. Kevin Riley showed signs that he is becoming a more consistent quarterback and that he is in for a good year. Riley should have a big game and Jahvid Best should appear on Sportscenter's Top 10 plays at least once with a big run or return.

Hawaii at Washington State: I've picked the home team in all the previous games this week, but I'm breaking the trend right now. Washington State is absolutely horrible and I expect Hawaii to pass all over them.

3 USC at 8 Ohio State: Pac-10 vs. Big-10. This is easily the best game of the weekend, not only in the conference, but in the country as well. Last week Ohio State struggled as they only beat Navy by 4. Terrelle Pryor only threw for 174 yards. Hopefully they were looking past Navy and onto USC because if they play like that again the Trojans will blow them out. Freshman Matt Barkley only has one game under his belt, but he will be helped by a potent running attack. Ohio State gave up 186 yards on the ground to Navy; they need to shut down the run and make Matt Barkley beat them if they have any chance of winning. This game is hyped, just as it was last year, but in the end the Trojans will walk out of the horseshoe as champions.

Northern Arizona at Arizona: State bragging right are on the line this Saturday in Tucson! Just kidding, no one actually cares about this game, but a Pac-10 team is playing so I'll write about it. Nice to know that NAU has a football team, but I don't see the Lumberjacks coming away with a win this week. The Wildcats are a talented team this year and will improve to 2-0.

Purdue at Oregon: For Oregon to win this game, they need to avoid a shootout. The Ducks need to run the ball early and punch Purdue in the mouth; no pun intended. Okay maybe that was intentional. Oregon has something to prove. They need to show the nation that they are better than the team that did not get a first down until the 3^rd quarter in Boise on Thursday. Purdue put up a good showing in their week 1 victory, however Autzen is one of the toughest places in the country to play and the Ducks should be ready. I'm not sold on this pick, but Oregon needs desperately needs a win to get their season on track, so I'll go with the Ducks.

Oregon State at UNLV: Jacquizz Rodgers. UNLV may have gained some respect amongst Pac-10 fans last year when they travelled to Tempe and upset the Sun Devils. This year will be different however as the Beavers should get a win in Sin City.

The most anticipated game this week was the Thursday night game in Boise, Idaho. This game was not only a bust for the viewers as it was full of mistakes, but it was also a bust for the Oregon Ducks and the Pac-10 Conference. The Ducks came out flat and never found their rhythm. We all know what happened after the game, so I won't go into detail. The problem with this game was that the Pac 10 is often overlooked and Thursday night was a huge opportunity to gain some credibility, but instead the Ducks got embarrassed.

Every other Pac-10 game this week went as expected. Although everyone expected LSU to beat Washington, I don't think many of us expected Washington to keep the game within 8 points. LSU won 31-23 at Washington.

Oregon State beat Portland State 34-7. The highlight of this game was Jaquizz Rodgers rushing for 103 yards and three touchdowns.

San Jose State went into southern California and took a 3-0 lead against the USC Trojans. Then USC scored 56 straight points in route to a 56-3 victory. This game was a complete blowout. Barkley threw for 233 yards and a touchdown. There isn't much that can be taken away from a game that was such a mismatch, but USC looked good and hopefully they will be able to defeat Ohio State next week.

Cal and Arizona State were both able to blow out this week's opponents. Cal beat Maryland 52-13. Kevin Riley had a great game, throwing for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns. Heisman hopeful Jahvid Best rushed for 137 yards and 2 touchdowns. ASU beat Idaho State 50-3. This game was a mismatch throughout and it was evident that ASU was the much more talented team. The one thing that can be taken away was how strong the ASU defense looked. Even if they only were playing Idaho State, giving up 37 total yards is still impressive.

UCLA beat San Diego State 33-14. Arizona beat Central Michigan 19-6. In the lone conference game of the week Washington State lost to Stanford 39-13. This game shouldn't really surprise anyone and the Stanford program is on the rise and Washington State is expected to have a very long year.